IntroductionThis web page will give you an introduction to Digital Etiquette. Schools from around the world have put in their ideas and research into this web page. At the beginning of the project students were introduced to a "ning" for students get to know other students in their groups and experience an online communication system. Students learned how use "flickr" to find photos that had a creative commons license. Many people around the world use chat rooms like "myspace" and "facebook" which is great to meet new people and communicate in a quick and easy way but some people don't use appropriate behavior online which leads to problems which can be dangerous.

Digital Etiquette

Digital Etiquette or netiquette is a basic set of rules you should follow to make the internet a better place for other people and yourself. When you instant message, chat, or email someone over the internet, that person can't tell if your just joking because they can't see your face. Don't say stuff over the internet that can be taken the wrong way or can hurt someones feelings. To practice good etiquette, or netiquette as its sometimes called, is simple:- treat people how you wish to be treated: with courtesy and respect. People know these rules but most of the time don't follow them while on the internet. The internet takes over some peoples lives and people can get brain washed so easily when on the computer. Hacking other computers, using bad language, downloading illegally, and plagiarism are examples of having bad or no etiquette when it comes to the internet.

- Etiquette is a set of rules dealing with exterior form.

Definition:
Adults who have a responsible digital behavior make a role model for students of all ages. Many Students watch how others use technology and assume if others can use it in that manner, so can they. Few rules have been enforced in using new technology so many people are unsure how to use technology devices today.

Etiquette in General
Etiquette: What is it?Etiquette is another world for being civilized and manners. A proper description of it would be rules governing socially acceptable behaviour. Having Etiquette means you are not rude or disrespectful. You have tact and are polite. Manners are important for good impression and will guarantee a more successful future. Etiquette also means to be proper as in clean and sophisticated. Etiquette is usually incorporated in a good education plan. In different cultures you can find different meanings of etiquette. This is what composes etiquette.Etiquette: Who uses it? Etiquette is used by people all over the world. In the 1800’s, Etiquette was obligatory. If you did not have propriety or manners then you were considered a disgrace and a street rat. Nowadays the formal teaching of proper etiquette is used mostly by wealthy and important people. But in some homes, you can also encounter it. Etiquette in some religions is a rule. That means a Muslim will have a different etiquette than a Buddhist. People who want to be successful in life also have a proper etiquette. That is why most people have a proper etiquette. Etiquette: Why is it used?
When you use etiquette, it shows propriety. On the internet, people use etiquette to be respectful and appropriate. Also when you are in a computer lab with others, if someone does not log off, instead of hacking them you can kindly log off for them. People have etiquette to maintain respect in society. Etiquette is normally used because people need to respect each other. When you have a good etiquette, people show you respect and feel more comfortable around you. It is used to be sophisticated and not rude and disrespectful. But sometimes the opposite of etiquette is used which is rudeness and a lack of tact. This is found especially in groups of teenagers who use it to look cool around friends. This is not right. Someone could get physically or emotionally hurt. This is why etiquette is used. Etiquette: When is it used?
Etiquette mainly appears when someone has guests, meets with other people, or during meals. It is normally found in a social group. Friends use etiquette around each other to gain a better name. Etiquette is also used when greeting another person. The better you greet someone, the better they’ll think of you. Being proper around human beings when they are at your home or you’re hosting a party improves their opinion about you. Etiquette is also used during meals. Normally during meals with you family, people do not burp or make rude noises. They sit calmly and eat with the occasional polite conversation. This is when etiquette is used. Etiquette: How is it shown?
Good etiquette is shown by having a proper education, manners and a sense of tact. Having a good education means you are intelligent and can tell right from wrong. Displaying good education gives people a better opinion about you. Also dressing properly and having cleanliness is a way of showing etiquette. Manners are also an excellent way of having etiquette. When you display manners, it means you respect the people around you. Also tact can do the same thing. This is how etiquette is shown.Etiquette: Key termsEtiquette: rules governing socially acceptable behavior.Propriety: correct or appropriate behavior.Manners: a polite or well bred social behavior or habitsProper: marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness.Education: the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill.Respect: an attitude of admiration or esteem.Civilized: having a high state of culture and development both social and technological.Social: living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups.Tact: the ability to speak without offending others.Polite: showing regard for others in manners, speech, behavior.Impression: mental picture: a clear and telling mental image.Cleanliness: the habit of keeping free of superficial imperfections, diligence in keeping clean.Sophisticated: having or appealing to those having worldly knowledge and refinement.Society: an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization.

1. Overview/Description of the various aspects of the topic.

Elementary Aged Students

These days kids in the 4th and 5th graders have cell phones and I think that's a bad decision on the parents part because they can text, and they don't know what they are doing. Kids are only on the internet to play games on kid websites like Webkinz, Club Penguin, or The Jonas Brothers' chat rooms. Some of the older kids might get on the internet to listen to music.
For children in elementary school it is best that they do not have a lot of privileges to technologies that can be really harmful. For example it is best that elementary students should not have individual laptops because sometimes, different things that might be inappropriate pop up on the screen.Elementary kids should also know how to use and understand digital etiquette. Kids should use websites to play games at times but not too much because it will lead to dangers in the future, for example using facebook in innapropriate ways.

Middle/ High School Aged Students

Teenagers these days are only on the internet to chat with their friends they know, or to look at cool videos or pictures.Myspace and Facebook are easy ways for teenagers to get access to the internet. These two websites have caused a lot of controversies over the internet because some teenagers will put bad pictures on the internet of themselves or other people. Every once in a while fights will occur between people who are trying to make each other look bad. It gives them a bad reputation and it ruins friendships all over the world. I just think that if teenagers would act mature then a lot of these things would not happen.

cyber bullying

myspace logo

facebook logo

Email Etiquette:

Here are some guidlines to create a proffesional , yet friendly email.

BE A SPORT, AND KEEP IT SHORT:

Most people are too busy for you to drone on and on , sharing your life story , when you should be talking about work, or you are asking to get a colleagues phone number, or when people include 'how are you', or 'how was your weekend' they are probably just doing it out of politeness, not curiosity. Just answer with a quick ' Fine, thanks!' or 'Too much homework!' or even: ' i just hung out with a couple of friends'.

NON MIND READERS FRIENDLY, PLEASE!:

Keep in mind, that subtle hints in real life, are often misread, or ignored digitally. State What you want, or the MAIN TOPIC of your email, in the SUBJECT, an example will be : 'RE: regarding the issue of dual-booting the school macs' and include your suggestions in your message, or it could be : 'NEED YOUR HELP WITH SCIENCE HOMEWORK!!! SEE MESSAGE!!!' Just make sure you clearly state WHAT YOU WANT, or WHY YOU ARE MESSAGING. Remember, that people cannot read minds (most of them) and they will be confused when they see the subject saying : "REALLY REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE COMPANY THINGYY!!!" and the message says: "We need to bring the equipment, and the laptops issued to the other department in the project, so we can set up for the meeting in the office!" Here, neither the subject, or the message tell you specifically what needs to be done.

Well, none of us like to read the often-seen typos, especially the ones that aren't comprhensiable at ALLL... And it often makes us feel less important, that nobody cares what they say or send to us, and they dont care if we understand or not. *NOT NICE* And what about the ones that stop in midsentence, and say something else, its like they just made up their mind not to tell you, and they are not bothered to erase it. Like when im typing this anHEYY DID YOU SEE THAT NEW BAG... !!! (Those kinds of typos are just plain ANNOYING.... just as annoying as the real life blunders!!) AND ABBREVIATIONS LIKE ROFL/LOL/TTFN!!!
Those can be issues...
like ROFL can be misunderstood as : Ran Out of FueL
or LOL can be misunderstood as : Lots Of Love (major misunderstandings.. out of LOL)
or TTFN.... can be read as Train Ticket For Nigel

BUISNESS FOR BUSYNESS!!!

Use your buisness/school emails for Buisness/school, dont use them for personal things! First reason is that those emails exist soley for the help and communication within the limits of the school district, not to sign up on game sites, or youtube (unless its creating an account for school). Remember, people might priortize, buisness emails get diverted/forwarded to their buisness email, if spam shows up in their company mail, they're the ones in trouble, and boy, will they be mad...!

BE PLASTIC-ON-THE-SCREEN-CLEAR!!!

When talking about tech, be specific, there are many systems that do not have the same features as your operating system, so if you give directions over email, and you mess up the other persons computer because you cant be there to see their OS... they'll never ask you to help them with ANYTHING again, and if you need their help, they'll probably mess up your computer on purpose!!!!

Adults

The daily routine of an average adult is to get up and go to work. When they are at work, they often use computers to help them with their jobs. Most of the time, adults only use the software systems on the computers like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Excel. At work, adults communicate by email or talking to other members of the group. Adults are pron to playing on their mobile phones, playing games and looking at random web pages.

Let's face it. Most adults do not know how to use the internet correctly. Most of the adults that I observed do not know how to navigate through the internet without running into some sort of problem. In my opinion, adults that do not know how to use the internet are just as bad as children that do not know how to use the internet. Most of the time, when children and teenagers do not know how to use the internet, they tend to participate in very bad behavior on the internet. They post bad pictures, start gossip about other people, or get involved with relationships. I have noticed that some adults think that just because they are older, they are immune to that same bad behavior on the internet. The truth is they act just as bad. Whether adults realize it or not, they are just as bad as kids on the computer. The phrase, "You are acting like a two-year old" comes into play here. To all adults, lead by example. Help your kids know how to act on the internet by knowing how to act on the internet yourself.

Sometimes adults will lie about their age on myspace so they can get to children easier.
We all know that lying is bad etiquette, online and offline. Adult who lie about their age are setting a bad example for children. It is disrespectful and demented that adults will lie about their age to gain access to teenagers and children. Adults are worried about children what their children are doing on the internet but they have to remember it is adults who are the predators and children are the victims. Adults are worried about their children's behavior when really they should be worried about the adults behaviour. I feel that it is worse to pretend you are a teenager and assault teenagers than to tell the truth about your age and assault teenagers. If you lie about your age than teenagers will start being your friend and you capture them and find out

Adult using the computer

Online PlagiarismOnline plagiarism is where internet users copy or use part of your or someone else's work. It is definitely not acceptable and is becoming a major issue. People need to have the right to place information on the internet knowing that it will not be copied for other people's work. Plagiarism is illegal but people still don't get the message. Plagiarism really could start major problems like people not writing the truth on the internet or making up information just to teach people a lesson. If someone is going to copy other people's work really they are better off handing the work in late or not at all. Using people's ideas is okay if you give them recognition or asked them. Plagiarism is equal to lying, if not worse. People are being generous by putting their knowledge on the internet to help people not to do it for people.
Have courtesy and respect- don't copy peoples work use it as a guide and acknowledge them for their work and help. Plagerism- it's illegal so do the right thing.

Downloading Illegally Downloading illegally is one of the things not do in digital etiquette. Using file sharing programs such as KaZaA, Bit Torrent, iMesh, and Lime Wire to share or obtain copyrighted music, movies, games, and other software without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal. Stealing music has lots of effects once done. Some of the effects are listed below.

Stealing music is against the law.

Stealing music betrays the songwriters and recording artists who create it.

Stealing music stifles the careers of new artists and up-and-coming bands.

Stealing music threatens the livelihood of the thousands of working people—from recording engineers to Christian music retailers and their staffs —who are employed in this ministry.

Some ways on avoiding stealing music are:

Read user agreements carefully.

Check the Web sites of the musicians, record companies, or movie studios to see if they allow distribution of their materials on the Internet.

When purchasing music, movies, games, software, or other materials, read the license carefully to learn if you have permission to convert materials to other formats for personal use.

Don't share or distribute materials unless you have permission.

Of course, there are consequences to this kind of action. For one you can be fined of at least $500 dollars. The online infringement of copyrighted music can be punished by up to 3 years in prison and $250,000 in fines," the website said. "Repeat offenders can be imprisoned up to 6 years. Individuals also may be held civilly liable, regardless of whether the activity is for profit, for actual damages or lost profits, or for statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringed copyright. "
To avoid these kinds of consequences you must avoid downloading illegally. I suggest that you follow the ways on avoiding these sort of consequences.

2. Background of the topic including specific real examples.

Elementary Aged Students

When little kids use poor etiquette, or netiquette, they don't really mean to because they don't understand what they are doing. They could accidentally pull up an adult website or get into a online chat and do something bad without knowing what their doing e.g they could download some items without even knowing it but if they do use good etiquette or netiquette then they can't and they wont go on the website made for adults.

Middle/ High School Aged Students

The times when people show poor online etiquette is when they like put pictures of other people on their without that persons permission.
For example when two girls are taking pictures of themselves on the locker room and there are girls changing without any clothes on behind them and they post those pictures of the girls behind them that are naked without their permission. Another example is if you do something very funny and one of your friends got you on video tape and he goes and posts it on YouTube without your permission and then people start making fun of you and you don't know what they are talking about until you see it. This has happened many times and it has ruined peoples lives.

Digital etiquette is the standards of conduct or procedure. Many technology leaders believe this is one of the most pressing problems of the digital citizenship. Teachers from schools see the inappropriate behavior and try to teach the students how to use digital etiquette correctly. Outside of schools, digital etiquette is ignored completely. Of course, inside of schools students follow rules to avoid many inappropriate behaviors. Teachers try to teach students to become responsible digital etiquette citizens in school as well in the society.
Most people know the rules of digital etiquette, but the most of the time they don’t follow them on the internet. For example, hacking into computers, using bad language, downloading illegally, and plagiarism are examples of bad etiquette. MySpace and Face book are the two internet sites that teenagers have access to. Teenagers often upload bad pictures of them or of other people. In addition to this many people often gossip about other people, and get involved with relationships. Many of the teenagers participate in the bad behavior. Every now and then fights have occurred and usually caused to lose friendships. Most of teenagers on the internet know more about the internet than their parents.

Digital Etiquette 1. Here is some tips that you should follow when talking online, texting, or emailing:

2. Say Hello before you start talking. It’s polite and it can make somebody happy knowing that somebody is nice enough to say hello.

3. Try to avoid replying “Sure”. A person will go crazy trying to figure out “Sure” what? Also, depending on who you are talking to online, the person may know little of your language and might not understand what you are saying, so be patient.

4. Avoid trailing off. If you stop responding to somebody all of the sudden they might think you’re ignoring them. If you have to go and do something say “BRB” or “one sec”. It will calm any worries, which the person has, who you are communicating to.

5. Don’t post people’s photos without their permission. Somebody might have a religion where they're not allowed to have they're pictures online.

6. Accept differences. Everybody has different beliefs. Don’t make fun of somebody’s religion or country because people can really get offended about what you say.

7. Talk about things that are appropriate. Chat rooms are for anyone who wants to talk to new people. One inappropriate comment can ruin it for everyone. You should always be aware to whom you are talking to and if they ask you to do anything which you feel uncomfortable about then tell an adult immediately so then the problem won't get out of hands.

8. Say bye before you leave the person whether its in person or online. You could seriously hurt somebody’s feelings if you just stop talking to them.

9. Be careful the way you type something. What you write can sound very different than what you mean. Read your writing before you press send. It could save you from an embarrassing situation.

10. Avoid writing in all capital letters. It looks like you're shouting. Wouldn't you think I was shouting if you saw this, DON'T WRITE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Adults
There have been problems with the way people are acting on the internet. These people range in ages from child to teenager to adult. When adults use the internet, they do things that they reprimand their children about. Even though adults are older and have much knowledge about a lot of things, some of them do not know much about the internet. Sometimes, the adults that do know a little bit about the internet still do things on the internet that are inappropriate and the bad thing about it is, they do not even know that they are doing it.

An example of that would be the political blogs. We are all aware of the 2008 Presidential race. In every political race, whether it be large or small, their is slander put about the other candidate on the blog posts. The adults do not know that posting the blogs with slander, or plagiarism, or profanity, is really hurting the children that are trying learn how to use the internet.

Another example of poor netiquette took place in a virtual world. It started when a couple signed into a virtual world and made avatars. They were very happy with the virtual world. The woman did not sign into her online world for about two weeks. Her boyfriend got her avatar and made it clean his virtual house. Her avatar was basically his made for the two weeks while she was not logged in. When she finally signed on, her virtual house was a mess. Her avatar was a wreck. She found out that her boyfriend had been abusing her avatar. She made a plan to get him back. She had virtual party and invited a lot of virtual people, including her boyfriend, who was not logged on at the time. During this party, she and her guests decided to go swimming in the pool she had in her virtual home. Because her boyfriend was not online, his avatar was on auto-pilot. His avatar jumped into the pool, and her avatar removed all ways to get out. Because he was trapped in the pool, his avatar died. This is very bad online netiquette on both of their parts. Out of respect, you never need to erase anybody's work. The better thing to do in that situation was to confront the person about it. Anytime anybody deletes your work, confront them about it, but do not ever erase anybody's work.

Another problem that adults have is the control issue with their children using the internet. Another example of this has been made into a movie made by PBS called Growing up Online. This series is a very empowering and educational experience about teenagers growing up and using the internet. Most of time, the teenagers on the movie know more about the internet than their parents. I would like to point out a specific topic shown on the video. There was a woman whose children had a Myspace. She was concerned that her kids were participating inappropriate behavior online. She tried to make everyone think that the internet was bad, and that kids had not place online.
What do you think? Please participate in this online poll.Do you agree that this woman's behavior toward the internet was justified? ( surveys)

Digital etiquette is the standards of conduct or procedure. Many technology leaders believe this is one of the most pressing problems of the digital citizenship. Teachers from schools see the inappropriate behavior and try to teach the students how to use digital etiquette correctly. Outside of schools, digital etiquette is ignored completely. Of course, inside of schools students follow rules to avoid many inappropriate behaviors. Teachers try to teach students to become responsible digital etiquette citizens in school as well in the society.
Most people know the rules of digital etiquette, but the most of the time they don’t follow them on the internet. For example, hacking into computers, using bad language, downloading illegally, and plagiarism are examples of bad etiquette. MySpace and Face book are the two internet sites that teenagers have access to. Teenagers often upload bad pictures of them or of other people. In addition to this many people often gossip about other people, and get involved with relationships. Many of the teenagers participate in the bad behavior. Every now and then fights have occurred and usually caused to lose friendships. Most of teenagers on the internet know more about the internet than their parents.

3. Social / ethical aspects of the topic including how real people and communities have been positively or negatively affected and legal consequences

Elementary Aged Students

Elementary age students have been positively affected by websites like Woogi World. Woogi World is a website that teaches kids how to be safe online. Websites like these are appropriate in the teaching of etiquette for children. It makes it really easy for kids to learn when they are having fun and playing games.

Students have also been negatively affected. Most elementary aged students follow the latest trends like new bands and singers. When children sometime go in the chat rooms that these bands have, they meet people that can become dangerous. Because most of children this age do not know what do when they meet strangers, they fall into their traps and they can be in serious trouble.

Overall, Digital Etiquette has its positives and negatives. Most of the time, this particular age group does not really understand about etiquette. Because of educational programs like Woogi World, children are able to learn easily about Digital Etiquette.

Woogi World Logo

Middle/ High School Aged Students

Some people have had both positively and negatively affected by internet etiquette. An example of negative etiquette on the internet is
like if a person copies somebody's work without their permission and then the person who got copied goes and deletes that person's
work.On Myspace and other websites your profile can be viewed by anyone. Like teachers employers coaches and many other people you might not want seeing some of the things in your profile. Be careful with what you write because you don’t know whos going to look at it. this has a negative affect on friendships and life choices.

Adults

I feel that the digiteen has positively affected our class because we are learning to behave appropriately in front of adults and children and also in front of children on the other side of the world. Before we started this project I know that some students and possibly even teachers didn't take much notice of their behavior on the internet but when you are working with people from America and Qatar, etc you really have to watch the language you use. I feel that this project is not just for the kids and it is just not just a project for the teachers it is a project for both to learn together.

4. Possible solutions to the problems that have emerged.

Elementary Aged Students

For better safety for elementary kids the parents should have some type of lock for websites that they think is inappropriate for their kids. Parents should try to prevent buying laptops for their children when they are in elementary school or at a young age. They would not know what their kids are doing at their laptops. Another solution is to put up firewalls that block inappropriate websites. This keeps you kids safe from all kinds of bad things on the internet.

Middle/ High School Aged Students

As a middle/high school student online here is a helpful tip.
Don't type in all caps it looks like you're shouting which can offend some people which are on the other end of the computer because when you are talking to a person in face its easier to get your point across than talking online. Also if you try to do humor on the computer someone might not know that it is humor, and might take it as personal and you can get in trouble in all sorts of ways. Another thing is don't send rude messages or offensive e-mails to one another. It bad manners and it can get way out of hand in no time. Although you might be a pro at cyberspace be nice to the new comers. For a new comer on computers it is like learning a different language for them. Computers take a lot of practice and it is also called for mistakes. So be nice to everyone you meet and also try to help them if you can.

Adults

Adults have more access to computers and internet because unlike children they don't have anyone to forbid them from using it. I think the government should try to keep an eye on the websites people use and they should double their efforts to find all the virus creators and people misusing the Internet. There are Cyber Nanies, people who makes sure that porn sites or such do not appear on websites that children under the age of 18 might use. There should be more people like that, who focus on different things. I think that the real problem lies in people and that the people themselves need to realize and understand that it is bad to be rude online and not use the technology appropriately. As soon as people start behaving and not acting like children things will be better. We say "acting like children" meaning that they act immature and make bad comments, but the reality is that adults are better educated to use technology which means they are also better educated to abuse it, and so if adults act like children and abuse technology the results are really bad.

Emailing
Adults in e-mail use text that is easy to read and is easy to understand. It improves vocabulary and is spoken with respect. We have a problem in modern society that children are using slack language and and that it isn't respectful to adults. I think that we should learn to speak like our parents and use correct language to be polite and respectful.

5. Guideline(s) or rule(s) by age group

A. Elementary Aged Students

B. Middle / High School Aged Students

Students who have freedom on the internet are at risk of getting a virus. Hackers are common on websites that you wouldn't want your parents to see. I think that it is important that students resist the temptation of going on dangerous websites. I have had experiences with viruses before and they are not nice. I think that we should follow 'guidelines' not rules and do what is the right thing- only visit protected sites. I really feel that some websites lure students in and that they without knowing, a hacker enters there computer. Students should have the self control to not enter websites that have the potential to give a computer a virus. Hackers a dangerous, so what I am saying don't even take a risk, stay safe.

C. Adults

All ages should follow the same rules/ guidelines on the internet when it comes to etiquette, just like in real life. People treat manners differently on the internet because they think that they can get away with bad and offensive behavior because they don't have to be themselves. I feel that this problem mainly affects Teenagers but can also affect adults behavior. Adults need to realize that their children look up to them. If you tend to be angry, they'll tend to be angry. If they see you on certain websites that you are not supposed to be on, then they will most likely visit those websites too. Adults, lead by example. Teach your kids the right way to use the internet. Take them to parenting sites that give you helpful hints on how to maneuver around the internet safely. Try to stay away from politcal blogs that contain a lot of profanity. It would also be wise to allow your kids to play on websites like Woogi World, which teaches kids about internet safety.